title: An age and gender dependency of metabolite concentrations in basal ganglia in children with spastic diplegia: proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.
abstract: We determined metabolite profile in spastic diplegic children compared to controls in left basal ganglia of brain in using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in correlation with age and gender. Twenty-four patients with spastic diplegia and twenty-six healthy children were examined. The relative concentrations of N-acetylaspartate, choline, and myoinositol were measured in relation to creatine and different combinations of metabolites within 8-cm(3) brain voxel. Children with spastic diplegia showed reduced ratios of N-acetylaspartate/creatine, N-acetylaspartate/ choline, and N-acetylaspartate/myoinositol in the basal ganglia compared to the control group. Patients and controls subjects demonstrated a significant age-dependent increase in N-acetylaspartate/creatine, N-acetylaspartate/choline in the basal ganglia. No gender-dependent difference was shown in children with cerebral palsy for all tested metabolite ratios. Gender-related differences because of increased ratio N-acetylaspartate/choline in girls in controls were detected. These results indicate that maturation of brain exists in cerebral palsy and healthy children to a higher degree in healthy children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation, Medical University of Bialystok, Bialystok, Poland. kulak@hot.pl
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kulak
authors.forename: Wojciech
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sobaniec
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smigielska-Kuzia
authors.forename: Bozena
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kubas
authors.forename: Bozena
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zawada
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Otapowicz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002794:Choline / Q000378:metabolism; D003401:Creatine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011522:Protons; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D011522:Protons; D001224:Aspartic Acid; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D003401:Creatine; D002794:Choline